More time for residents to have say on waste centre

NOTTS County Council has extended the consultation period for people to have their say on the proposed development of Bilsthorpe Energy Centre.

The facility, proposed for land at the former Bilsthorpe Colliery, off Eakring Road, would manage waste materials utilising a plasma gasification process to produce electricity.

The planning application consultation period was launched on December 5 and was to finish on January 20.

However, it will now run until Friday, February 7.

Sally Gill, head of planning at the council, said: "When the application was originally put out to consultation, we increased the statutory three-week period of public consultation to six and half weeks in acknowledgement of the scale of the proposals and the Christmas and New Year period.

"However, since the consultation began, local county councillors, the local MP and a number of local residents have expressed concern that even this extended period of time is not sufficient for them to study the application and register their concerns.

"So the county council is extending the consultation."

The centre could create 40 jobs and power 24,000 homes, re-using thousands of tonnes of waste that would otherwise have gone to landfill.

Sherwood MP Mark Spencer said: "This is clearly a very important application and needs very careful consideration so we must give the people of Bilsthorpe and Eakring the opportunity and time to engage in the consultation."